Thin films with high surface roughness: thickness and dielectric function analysis using spectroscopic ellipsometry.

An optical surface roughness model is presented, which allows a reliable determination of the dielectric function of thin films with high surface roughnesses of more than 10 nm peak to valley distance by means of spectroscopic ellipsometry. Starting from histogram evaluation of atomic force microscopy (AFM) topography measurements a specific roughness layer (RL) model was developed for an organic thin film grown in vacuum which is well suited as an example. Theoretical description based on counting statistics allows generalizing the RL model developed to be used for all non-conducting materials. Finally, a direct input of root mean square (RMS) values found by AFM measurements into the proposed model is presented, which is important for complex ellipsometric evaluation models where a reduction of the amount of unknown parameters can be crucial. Exemplarily, the evaluation of a N,N'-dimethoxyethyl-3,4,9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylic-diimide (DiMethoxyethyl-PTCDI) film is presented, which exhibits a very high surface roughness, i.e. showing no homogeneous film at all.

Nonaqueous atomic layer deposition of aluminum phosphate.

Aluminum phosphate was deposited onto bundles of carbon fibers and flat glassy carbon substrates using atomic layer deposition by exposing them to alternating pulses of trimethylaluminum and triethylphosphate vapors. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (SS-NMR) spectra confirmed that the coating comprises aluminum phosphate (orthophosphate as well as other stoichiometries). Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images revealed that the coatings are uniform and conformal. After coating, the fibers are still separated from each other like the uncoated fibers. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicates an improvement of oxidation resistance of the coated fibers compared to uncoated fibers.

Temperature-dependent Raman investigation of rolled up InGaAs/GaAs microtubes.

Large arrays of multifunctional rolled-up semiconductors can be mass-produced with precisely controlled size and composition, making them of great technological interest for micro- and nano-scale device fabrication. The microtube behavior at different temperatures is a key factor towards further engineering their functionality, as well as for characterizing strain, defects, and temperature-dependent properties of the structures. For this purpose, we probe optical phonons of GaAs/InGaAs rolled-up microtubes using Raman spectroscopy on defect-rich (faulty) and defect-free microtubes. The microtubes are fabricated by selectively etching an AlAs sacrificial layer in order to release the strained InGaAs/GaAs bilayer, all grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Pristine microtubes show homogeneity of the GaAs and InGaAs peak positions and intensities along the tube, which indicates a defect-free rolling up process, while for a cone-like microtube, a downward shift of the GaAs LO phonon peak along the cone is observed. Formation of other type of defects, including partially unfolded microtubes, can also be related to a high Raman intensity of the TO phonon in GaAs. We argue that the appearance of the TO phonon mode is a consequence of further relaxation of the selection rules due to the defects on the tubes, which makes this phonon useful for failure detection/prediction in such rolled up systems. In order to systematically characterize the temperature stability of the rolled up microtubes, Raman spectra were acquired as a function of sample temperature up to 300°C. The reversibility of the changes in the Raman spectra of the tubes within this temperature range is demonstrated.